Town budget tops $79 million

Town Manager Bud Dunham delivered his $79.7 million operating budget for Fiscal Year 2019 January 25, saying Sandwich continues “to do more with less or do more with the same.”

“But it’s frustrating,” he said.

The next budget, though still evolving, is level serviced with a projected 3.76 percent increase. The new budget does not include any new jobs or spending initiatives. But it does include $219,000 to retain eight Safer Grant firefighters over the final part of the next fiscal year, assuring the reopening of the East Sandwich fire station.

Dunham said that opening East Sandwich makes available the only public service that is not universally delivered in town. Funding the firefighters, however, remains a fiscal challenge

Dunham also hopes to direct a long overdue $75,000 to the town’s information technology department, where rising expenses each year have been met at the expense of hardware and software programs, as well as servers that would connect or otherwise “host” with the “cloud.”

The 30-page budget document still represents a $550,000 deficit. Dunham told selectmen there may still be a need to trim a $1 million worth of capital spending.

The deficit for Fiscal Year 2019 totaled $900,000 in December, Dunham said. With health insurance savings, that total was reduced to $550,000.

“It’s not time to panic,” he said. “We have a few months to go. If we have to cut, we’ll cut but no panic now. We’ll always find ways to get that deficit to zero because we have to.”

Dunham’s budget address was straightforward and economical, with descriptions and explanations delivered at a fairly-rapid clip. His presentation seemed to pivot on budgetary wisdom, his decades of town administrative experience and the discipline to provide realistic numbers, knowing they will be affected by forces far beyond the town’s control.

He was unapologetic in places and prideful as well. Sandwich will enter its 14th straight year with no Proposition 2½ override request. No other Cape town can make that claim, he said.

So Sandwich has a healthy and well-compensated workforce in a burgeoning economy and a strong real estate market, even as officials wrestle with the need to repair roads, make decisions about the Wing School, battle Mother Nature at eroding Town Neck Beach, and figure out what to do with its various town buildings and consider wastewater planning.

Wrinkles, meanwhile, have also developed. The school committee has advanced its budget to selectmen and the finance committee with a three percent overall spending hike rather than a 2.5 percent increase as instructed last fall.

If the $128,000 increase is justified and accommodated by selectmen and the finance board, the school budget goes to Town Meeting in May. But it is unclear where the additional impact will be absorbed in general government.

Dunham said capital spending requests include $125,000 for both building maintenance in general government and the schools. As far as the town buildings go, there is a $125 million need for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. He said there is also a dire need to try and move some departments under one roof to increase efficiencies in the municipal services, as well as decide the fate or future of the Town Hall Annex on Main Street.

Along those lines, long-term municipal concerns include fixing roads and taking care of the Wing School and its fields when the school department departs the Water Street complex. There is also the matter of streamlining the town’s organizational structure and various positions, as well as continuing to direct funds to the Safer firefighters employment.

Dunham said work continues to upgrade Sandwich’s bond rating from AA-plus, but this proves to be elusive because the town carries much less revenue in its designated reserve fund when compared to Falmouth, Mashpee, and Bourne. This, he said, carries over to the stabilization fund as well. Sandwich has $1.5 million in that account, while the three neighboring towns average $7 million.

This shows that Sandwich budgets “extremely tightly”, Dunham said. Bond agencies pivot on how much is carried in fiscal reserves when reviewing bond ratings.

Dunham said budgeting remains in flux as the town awaits the House of Representatives budget to unfold in March. He said he does not lean toward overestimating annual receipts, but acknowledged that “we do have some flexibility there.”

Snow-and-ice removal costs this winter have been moderate in a mild winter, Dunham added.

“So far so good on that,” Dunham said. “And we can cut capital (spending) requests if we need to.”

He also said funds flowing to the stabilization fund and the other post-employment benefits fund (OPEB) could be trimmed.

“And operating budgets in the end are always at risk if we have to cut,” he said.